State Department Communicating with Toon Regarding His Remarks

The State Department said today it was communicating with Ambassador Malcolm Toon about remarks he made in a speech in Haifa yesterday regarding President Anwar Sadat’s remarks about Jews and Zionism at the National Press Club and about the possibility of intervention in Lebanon by outside forces.

State Department spokesman Robert Anderson said that the Department was communicating with Toon on the accuracy of his reported statements and said that “on the question of Zionism, our own view has been made abundantly clear and I have no direct comments at all on President Sadat’s comments that he made in answer to a question at the National Press Club.”

Referring to Toon’s reported remarks on Lebanon, Anderson said “with regard to intervention, this is not something we have given any consideration to at all.” He said also “We do not feel there is at present a likelihood of outside intervention.” He stated that it was an “internal” Lebanese problem and there are “clear limits on help that can be given by another government.”

Anderson said the U.S. is consulting with other governments “which share our concern as to what we and they can do to help” to end the turmoil in Lebanon. He mentioned in this connection consultations with Israel, Syria and Egypt, and he thought also with Saudi Arabia and Jordan.